The Original Meaning of The Song That Became "Sea Lion Woman" (re-published 2011 pancocojams post)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post is a full re-publication of the third post that I published on this blog in August 30, 2011. That post has the same title and can be found at https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/08/original-meaning-of-song-that-became.html.

That original post was the first pancocojams post to receive any comments, and includes a rather robust* (for pancocojams) discussion thread with varying opinions of the original meaning[s] of the words in that song that are often given as "sea lion" women.

Additional lyrics for this song are also given in that 2011 post's comment section.

I decided not to re-post those comments here, but hope that there will also be comments in this post's discussion thread.

*46 comments as of the time of this post's publication October 29, 2018, 8:14 PM EDT.
That post also has 46 favorites, which means that (as of this date) that pancocojams post has the highest number of favorites if not the highest number of favorites. That post also has 10, 692 viewer hits as of that October 29, 2018 date and time.

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The content of this post is published for historical, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and all those who are featured in the videos that are embedded in this post. Thanks also to the videos' publishers on YouTube.

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Here's that post:

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The 1999 American movie "The General's Daughter" might have been the first time many people heard the song "Sea Lion Woman" ("Sea Line Woman"). For others - including me -"Sea Lion Woman" is forever associated with the soulful vocalist Nina Simone. Here's a video of Nina Simone singing that song:

Nina Simone- See Line Woman



Uploaded by mardenhill on Oct 5, 2009

Live Performance - Montréal, Canada (1992)
-anip-
Since the only version of "Sea Lion Woman" that I knew for a long time was the one that Nina Simone sang, it came as a suprise to me that some people believe that the basis of that song was a children's playground song.

In a comment that is posted on the Folk music & Blues forum Mudcat Cafe, blogger Jim Dixon shared the following information
" "Sea-Lye Woman" (Sea Lion) was included on the album "Field Recordings Vol 4: Mississippi & Alabama (1934-1942) which was released in 1998 on the Document label. There it is sung by Katherine & Christine Shipp, who sound very young. In fact, the song has the flavor of a girl's jump-rope rhyme, with a sort of African beat."...

By the way, I doubt that African American girls in Mississippi or Alabama in the 1930s or 40s would be singing about a "sea lion" woman anyway. They seem to be awfully far removed from the "selkie" legends. And they are definitely pronouncing it "see-lye" or maybe "seal-eye". "Sea Lion" seems like rationalization to me. Do you suppose the song had been handed down from some African language?"
April 3,2003 http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=33719
-snip-
Instead of thinking that the "sea lion" phrase might have come from an African language, my guess [which I shared on that same Mudcat thread] was that "sea lion" was a folk etymology form of the Biblical phrase "Selah". But I dropped that theory after reading several comments from guests who identified themselves as being from the South* and who shared that that "sea lion" ("see-line"; "see-lye") originally was "she lyin'". The phrase "She lyin" (or "she's lying" as one guest wrote it) was said in response to a call & response tattle tail type statement such as one person saying "she drank coffee" and the second person saying "(No I didn't) She lyin'".

*I'm a Northern girl with no known Southern relatives. The only Southern city I've ever visited is Atlanta, Georgia. I guess Atlanta still counts as the South in spite of all the Northern people who've moved there).

It should also be noted that another guest wrote that "sea lion" was originally "C-line", a referent for a railroad line. But I'm sold on the "She lyin" meaning for a number of reasons.
1. That phrase fits the likely pronunciation customs of some Black folks in the South (and elsewhere)

2. The back & forth tattle tailing and denial statements fit the call & response pattern that Nina Simone has preserved so well in her renditions of this song.

and

3. That theory fits the comment that was shared earlier that the first recorded version of this song in 1939 [which I haven't heard yet] sounds like a girl's jump rope song.

I should also mention that I happened upon another children's game song version of "Sea Lion Woman" from Mississippi. That version was included in the 1965 book Children's Games From Many Lands (Nina Miller: New York, Friendship Press, pp 121-122). That version was credited to a number of females from Mississippi (no age or race given). The words to that version can be found on Mudcat thread whose link has been previously given.

I believe that it's important to also share that two comments on that same Mudcat thread on "Sea Lion Woman" were posted by guests who indicated that she (or he or perhaps the same person) were members (or a member) of the Shipp family. The first of these comment was written in August 2007. That guest (who didn't share her or his name) wrote:
"I feel the song has been stolen from the family, but having trouble proving it. My grandmother and aunt wrote that song."

The second comment from a Shipp family member was posted to that same Mudcat thread in November 2010. That comment was signed by LaVern Shipp who wrote:
"My father Isaac Shipp, my grandmother Mary, and grandfather Walter Shipp was known in the South as the singing Shipp. My aunts are catherine, christine, they both are on the recording in 1939. My grandmother used to write songs and make up tunes to various songs. She passed away in 1966."

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UPDATE WITH LYRICS & COMMENTS 6/7/2012
Although the original version of "Sea Lion Woman" ("Sea Line Woman") may have been a children's playground rhyme, the lyrics of that song as sung by Nina Simone were clearly about a "bad" woman who sleeps all day and "balls" all night. However, eventually, the woman returns home to her roots "to save her soul(because she realized that her lifestyle was wrong).

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LYRICS TO SEA LION WOMAN
[As sung by Katherine and Christine
Shipp; 1939]

Sea Lion Woman (Sea Lion)
She drank coffee (Sea Lion)
She drank tea (Sea Lion)
And he gamble lie (Sea Lion)*
Way down yonder (Sea Lion)
I'm going maul (Sea Lion)
And the rooster crow (Sea Lion)
And he got no lie (Sea Lion)
Sea lion woman (Sea Lion)
She drank coffee (Sea Lion)
She drank tea (Sea Lion)
And she gamble lie (Sea Lion)*
Sea lion woman (Sea Lion)
She drank coffee (Sea Lion)
She drank tea (Sea Lion)
And a gamble lie (Sea Lion)*

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Lion_Woman
-snip-
"The exact origins of the song are unknown but it is believed to have originated in the southern United States. It was first recorded by folklore researcher Herbert Halpert on May 13, 1939. Halpert was compiling a series of field recordings for the Library of Congress in Byhalia, MS, when he ran across African Americans Walter Shipp, a minister, and his wife Mary, a choir director of a local church. Halpert recorded Shipp's daughters, Katherine and Christine, singing a sparse version of "Sea Lion Woman" that defined the basic rhymes and rhythm of the song."
-snip-
*In the Gullah dialect of English, the pronoun "he" also means "she". I've read that this is similar to some West African languages, and that practice of using "he" for females can also be found in some Caribbean dialects of English.

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UPDATE July 18, 2013
Here's the original recording of "Sea Lion Woman":

Sea Lion Woman - Christine and Katherine Shipp



mypianoisbroken, Uploaded on Jul 29, 2010

Library of Congress field recording Herbert Halpert.

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ADDITION: September 1, 2014
http://www.loc.gov/folklife/LP/AFS_L4_sm.pdf The Library Of Congress. Music Division; Archive of American Folklore gives this song as:
L: Sea lion woman
O: See lie
L: Shee drink cofee
O: See lie
L: She drink tea
O: See lie
L: And the gander lie
O: See lie

2. L. Way down yonder
'Hind a log
And the rooster crowed
And the gander lied
[The first verse is repeated twice.

(See lyin [?])
-snip-
The L probably means "lead" and the "O" probably means "other"
[voice]

"The gander lies" seems to me to be more accurate than "gamble lies". A gander is a male goose.
End of addition 9/1/2014
-snip-
Here's a track of "Sea Lion Woman" from the movie "The General's Daughter" that is based on the original recording of the Shipp sisters:

July 14, 2016- Sorry. This video is no longer available :o(

But here's a rendition of "Sea Line Woman" that was recommended by Anonymous (July 14, 2016)

Laura Mvula See Line Woman



Strokey Beard, Published on Jan 2, 2014

One amazing performance- what a singer; what a band!

The original is by Nina Simone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfyGMn... , based a a traditional kid's chant.

-snip-
LYRICS TO SEA LINE WOMAN
[As sung by Nina Simone at a Montréal, Canada (1992)]

Sea line woman (Sea line)
She drink coffee (Sea line)
She drink tea (Sea line)
then she go home (Sea line)
Sea line woman (Sea line)

Sea line woman, dressed in white (Sea line)
Sleep all day (Sea line)
Ball all night (Sea line)
Sea line woman (Sea line)

Sea line woman (Sea line)
She drink coffee (Sea line)
She drink tea (Sea line)
then she go home (Sea line)
Sea line woman (Sea line)

Wiggle Wiggle (Sea line)
Purr like a cat (Sea line)
Wink at a man (Sea line)
Then he'll wink back(Sea line)
Sea line woman (Sea line)

Empty his pockets (Sea line)
And wreck his days (Sea line)
Make him love her (Sea line)
She'll fly away (Sea line)
Sea line woman (Sea line)

Sea line woman (Sea line)
Dressed in gold (Sea line)
Goin home (Sea line)
To save her soul (Sea line)
Sea line woman (Sea line)
Sea line woman (Sea line)

Sea line woman (Sea line)
Dressed in red (Sea line)
Make a man (Sea line)
Lose his head (Sea line)
Sea line woman (Sea line)
Sea line woman (Sea line)

Wiggle Wiggle (Sea line)
Purr like a cat (Sea line)
Wink at a man (Sea line)
Then he'll wink back (Sea line)
Sea line woman (Sea line)

Empty his pockets (Sea line)
Wreck his day (Sea line)
Make him love her (Sea line)
And she'll fly away (Sea line)
Sea line woman (Sea line)

Sea line woman (Sea line)
Dressed in black (Sea line)
Sleep all day (Sea line)
On her back (Sea line)
Sea line woman (Sea line)

Sea line woman (Sea line)
Dressed in yella (Sea line)
Watch out fellas (Sea line)
You gonna lose out fellas [?]
Sea line woman (Sea line)

Sea line woman (Sea line)
Dressed in blue (Sea line)
Watch out fellas (Sea line)
She's gonna steal you (Sea line)
Sea line woman (Sea line)

He can't hear you (Sea line) **
I can't hear you (Sea line)**
Sea line woman (Sea line)
She drink coffee (Sea line)
She drink tea (Sea line)
Then she go home (Sea line)
Sea line woman (Sea line)

Sea line woman (Sea line)
Dressed in yella (Sea line)
Watch out girls (Sea line)
You gonna steal your fella
Sea line woman (Sea line)

Sea line woman (Sea line)
Dressed in gold (Sea line)
Goin home (Sea line)
To see [save?] her soul (Sea line)

Sea line woman (Sea line)
She drink coffee (Sea line)
She drink a little champagne (Sea line)
Then she go home (Sea line)
Then she go home now (Sea line)
Then she go home (Sea line)
Then she go home now (Sea line)
Then she go home (Sea line)
Whoah!
Sea line!
Sea line!
Sea line!
Sea line!
Sea line!
Sea line!
Sea line!
Sea line!

Sea line woman (Sea line)
She drink coffee (Sea line)
She drink tea (Sea line)
Then she go home (Sea line)
Sea line woman (Sea line)
Dressed in gold (Sea line)
Goin home (Sea line)
To save her soul (Sea line)

Sea line woman (Sea line)
She drink coffee (Sea line)
Then she go home (Sea line)
Then she go home (Sea line)
Then she go home now (Sea line)
Then she go home (Sea line)
Then she go home now (Sea line)
Then she go home (Sea line!)

[transcription by Azizi Powell from the video; words that I'm unsure of are followed by a question mark in brackets]

**lyrics directed to the audience to sing louder

It's should be noted that- as is the case with other folk songs- the lyrics to Nina Simone's "Sea Line Woman" weren't fixed. The words, the order of verses, and the length of the song could change with different performances. For that reason, there are several "Nina Simone" versions of "Sea Lion Woman" (or "Sea Line Woman") online. Most of them follow the "color pattern" (Sea lion woman/dressed in ___) as found above, with the "she drink coffee/she drink tea" verse being repeated more often than any other verse.

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